In the Morning
by dobe-kun
Summary: Naruto is left to face the biggest challenge of his life, and this time he cannot defeat it. One-shot SasuNaru. Death


They lived happily, the best they could…but ever after never came.

His eyes were clouded, cradled by dark, swollen circles that long ago absorbed the tears. He couldn't cry anymore, there was nothing left his body had in it. Everything is hollow, everything is cold.

_Sasuke_

As his hand gripped the freezing door handle, hesitation made his body static. This moment would be their last. _What if I screw it up? What if I forget to say something? What if…_ eyes clasp tight…_ he doesn't forgive me?_ Blow it off, turn the handle, push through the door… freeze. Everything was white, the walls, the floor, the curtains, the sheets…his skin. Everything but those strands of onyx falling down the dip of his nose and the ones laid against that white out pillow like running ink onto paper.

_Guuih!_ What exactly punches your chest so hard? Knocks out your breath and shakes your body like a flow of electricity? It waits so connivingly until you feel like you can face it, prepared for it, just so it can remind you how weak you are. _I am so weak…without you._

First step makes a deafening noise, and yet he still remains unresponsive, still with lidded eyes. An awful portrayal of what will come, and a cruel joke to make you think twice.

Second step and you're fully inside the room.

Third step, it's too late. The rest just follow until the bars of the bed hit your waist. Enough stalling, and dear God…_ make these last words count._

"Sasuke…I… um-.."

_No, not now! These aren't tears piercing out… it's like acid against my flesh. Raw, Abused Flesh._

There was no stirring from the bed. So I start again.

"Sasuke," I grip the bed posts, "…dammit, I don't know what to say. I don't… please don't go. You were right. I'm…I'm hopeless without you, I'm a fool, an idiot, a.. a.. anything you say…. You're always right. Just- don't …" My eyes fall to the floor along with my pride. _Iiiuh-_

"Shut up"

And there they were. Those endless holes of black fire that kindle at my cheeks. I might as well not have skin…they see through everything. I try to say something, anything… but he knows it's a waste of air.

"I said shut up." He pushes his body up, with unfamiliar difficulty, but a quick, sharp glance tells me not to show pity. I remain quiet… just for now, I do what I'm told.

The exact seven seconds of silence almost killed me. I could feel the clock ticking down each moment. But finally he spoke.

"Come here" And I did. I crawled onto that small hospital bed and carefully sat my weight on top of him. He reached up and grabbed the back of my head to keep our gazes equal. "Naruto" His voice sounded like rust, but my ears welcomed it like the day we first met, with his silk-laced backhanded compliments. I will never forget.

"Don't… mourn me. Don't you fucking dare."

My words were in pieces and bounced out through my chapped lips.

"H-how, youuu ba-sterd? I caan't ju- forget-t you"

"You wont. But you will…move on. You will live. Don't forget who's dying tonight."

"If you die, I die!" It was a whisper, but it took as much energy as if I shouted it. However, he blew a force back at me.

"You will not! Naruto, you are stronger than that. You are braver than that, and you are more to me than that! You will make it, because you have always made it, and I wont be far."

My teeth began to reopen the cuts in my lips. "What do you-u mean?"

He shut his eyes and I immediately regretted those words. "Sasuke?!"

They opened a little softer. Its expression took me back.

"You idiot," he slipped his cold hand up my shirt. I could feel his fingers across my chest as soft as a kiss. "I'm going to be right here. Whatever happens here after, no matter what force controls life, it can't control this. I'm not leaving you, but you can't stay with this body. And that's all this is… a shell. Now forget all that sappy bullshit you said earlier, and just…smile." For the first and last time, I saw a tear go down Sasuke's face. Just one, and I watched it sink into the cheap linen. "Naruto" I looked back at him. It was like lifting 2000 lbs of weight, but I did it. For him. I smiled the biggest one I could, even with the tears rolling off the sides of my face.

He slid his hand to cup my cheek and I let his thumb run over the wet mess I was making. He brought my head down and swallowed every silent sob. _This was my last chance to feel his lips, his tongue, his taste. _In the last seconds, our lips were closed and even though I couldn't see it, I felt him smile. His last words to me were against my lips, as he held my back and shifted us both down on the single bed, chest to chest.

"It's late, dobe. Go to bed, and I'll see you in the morning." He usually said that to me when he'd work late at night and I was a bother. Somehow, I'd never feel him slip back into bed, but he was always there in the morning. So once again… I trust him.

We both drifted asleep.

I was the only one…to wake up.

Everyone was dressed in black, even the clouds. There was no sermon, just quick respects. That was what he want, along with being buried by his mother, his father, right next to his brother. I stayed, not yet having dropped my rose.

**UCHIHA SASUKE**

**July 23, 1987 – December 12, 2009**

**Only buried**

**Never gone**

"Why did you have them put that?" Sai, a friend, or at least he tries to be. In this case, I try to as well.

"Because, Sai… just because"

"You're lying. _Just because_ is a statement referring to things a person cares less for. Unless you mean, you careless for him"

I don't get mad at him. Not today.

"Fine Sai. It's to remind me."

"Of what?"

The clouds began to shift faster and I could hear their threats. Not too much later in my pause did I feel their ever-quickening drops. I didn't look back at Sai. But before my response, I kneeled down to place my white rose.

Deep, slow breath. "That he really is here." My lips curved in a pathetic smile and my head dropped. I started to laugh short breaths and then lifted my head up to the ominous sky for a big intake of air. "He really is. I really can feel him, hah….haa—.."

Sai either remained quiet or was gone. I didn't care because I was no longer talking to him.

"I can feel his gaze, and this-this whatever it is that keeps me warm." I grasped the center of my oxford shirt where my heart steadily bounds. "Ha ha ha-hhh.." Spasms go through me, but I feel different than before.

_You idiot_

"I'll see you in the morning"


End file.
